Page 8 - MEOG Week 26

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“We have heard from him personally that would not happen... We are strategic partners with the United States. As strategic partners, nobody has the right to meddle in Turkey’s sov- ereign rights. Everyone should know this,” Erdo- gan said, according to Reuters’ translation.
However, the Turkish president danced around his claim when a journalist asked whether he was “100% sure that Turkey wouldn’t be sanctioned”.
Erdogan still says a er meeting with Trump that he will buy both S-400s and F-35 ghter jets, and at the same time Trump will not sanction Turkey. Erdogan even goes further with claiming that S-400s would arrive in Turkey in July and Trump would also visit Turkey in July.
e written statements from the White House and the Turkish Presidency also fuelled concerns over the possibility that both delegations present at the meeting have totally misunderstood each other again, as was the case many times at pre- vious meetings or phone calls between Erdogan and Trump.
e White House said that Trump “expressed concern” over the S-400 deal and “encouraged
Turkey to work with the United States on defence cooperation in a way that strengthens the NATO alliance”, while the Turkish presidency said Trump had voiced a desire to resolve the dispute without harming bilateral ties, Reuters reported.
“Even if Trump thinks this is all Obama’s fault, that won’t make the congressional sanctions go away... Trump-Erdogan discussions have taken on a farcical quality. Every time they talk the pattern is the same: Trump says something sym- pathetic but confused, Erdogan declares victory, and then a little while later we discover nothing has really changed,” Nicholas Danforth of Ger- man Marshall Fund told Al-Monitor.
Erdogan uses this kind of high-level events as a photo opportunity and he again succeeded in giving good poses with world leaders.
Now, he is expected to also use his visit to China as a photo opportunity to give the message that China is behind him. However, although Erdogan o cials have been claiming since last year that China will help Erdogan with his eco- nomic troubles, financial inflows that could replace Erdogan’s dependency on his Western nancers have not been observed yet.™
Iran’s Guardian Council clears EEU temporary agreement
Iran
iRAN’S top legal vetting committee, the Guard- ian Council, has con rmed the bill of temporary agreement for launching a free trade agreement between iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), according to Mehr News Agency on June 27.
iran is hurriedly pushing ahead with plans to enter into an agreement with the Russian-led economic bloc which encompasses several for- mer Soviet Union economies as a means of pro- tecting its supply chains. EEU countries include Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyr- gyzstan currently.
e bill allows the government to authorise trading when other representative governments that are part of the bloc clear the FTA.
Previously, the bill went before the iranian parliamentary commission where legal experts and clerics view such dra ed legislation. Unlike other legislation, such as anti-money launder- ing bills recently proposed, the EEU document cleared its round with the commission without a hitch.
in the debate at the commission, iranian MP Ali-Akbar Karimi said: “Accession to the EEU would serve as a prelude to joining the World Trade Organisation.”
“ e bill on the preliminary agreement for the creation of a free trade zone between iran
and the Eurasian Economic Union was studied at the commission in the presence of Energy Minister [Reza Ardakanian] and later approved by the parliament’s National Security and For- eign Policy Commission,” said Ali Naja Kho- shrudi, a spokesman for the commission said.
e Commissioning Council of the EEU has approved a roadmap for iran’s entry into a spec- i ed free trade zone in September, enabling iran to move ahead with building closer economic relations with parts of Central Asia, the Cauca- sus and Russia.
Despite the failure of previous e orts, iran’s gradual attempt to cease all trading with the US dollar could become a success at some point in the future if, for instance, it continues to move in the direction of Russia and other EEU states. Tehran often reminds countries around the world that US power is highly dependent on the dollar being the world’s undisputed number one reserve currency, and that Washington’s in u- ence drawing on that nancial repower should be reduced.
On the same day as that the parliament rati- ed the EEU deal, chairman of the iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce, Hadi Tizhoush Taban, said that removing the US dollar from trade was the main objective in iran bolstering its trade with the Caspian Sea littoral states.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 26 02•July•2019